What's the buzz? You can find out at the California Honey Festival. This is Wendy Mather of the California Master Beekeeper Program. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The California Honey Festival, set Saturday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Woodland, will focus on honey, bees, plants and pollination.  

"UC Davis will have a slimmed down version this year," said Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute, and a co-founder of the event.  Launched in 2017, the Honey Festival hasn't been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the events on tap Saturday: 

• The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center will showcase its honey tasting wheel and offer free honey tasting.
• The California Master Beekeeper Program will staff two educational booths. Visitors can examine a bee observation hive, check out the beekeeping equipment and peer through microscopes. Kids' activities are also planned. 
• The Bohart Museum of Entomology of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy will showcase bee diversity in its specimen drawers. Its live "petting zoo" will include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks) that folks can hold,  said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
• The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden will address pollinator needs and gardening.
• The Woodland Public Library will offer a children's reading hour.
• Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show will provide educational performances.
• The UC Davis Bookstores booth will contain honey, books, and other gifts for sale.
• Visitors can don a bee costume and get their picture taken in the UC Davis Pollination Park, a collaboration with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. 

Harris said the festival will include live music, a beer and mead garden, and about 100 vendors selling everything from food to plants to arts and crafts. Admission to the festival is free. The first festival drew some 30,000 visitors.

An after-party is planned at The Hive, owned by Z Specialty Food, Woodland. Advance registration is required. Access https://zspecialtyfood.com/event/california-honey-festival-after-party/

(Note: This year the UC Davis Bee Haven, operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won't be able to participate due to scheduling conflicts, said academic program management manager Christine Casey.)

Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, with an Asian giant hornet, dubbed by the news media, "murder hornet."

The web page, Live Talks and Demonstrations, provides more information and the Zoom links. All presentations are free and family friendly.

Here's what's on tap from Feb. 13 through Feb. 24:

Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m. to noon:
Live Demonstration: Museum Bird Preparation
Irene Engilis collections manager of the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and a team of students and staff will show how to prepare a dead bird as a scientifically valuable museum specimen. They will answer questions about the process and how they study birds both in the museum and in the wild. 
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html  

Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. 
Live Talk: All About Yeasts
This  will include a 20 minute pre-recorded presentation from 10 a.m. to 10:20, followed by a live question-and-answer session. Emeritus Professor Marc-André Lachance, recently retired from Western University in Ontario, Canada and a UC Davis alumnus, will talk about his global yeast-collecting expeditions.  
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html   

Saturday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m. to noon
Live Talk and Questions and Answers: All About Ants
Doctoral students Jill Oberski and Ziv Lieberman of the Phil Ward lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will discuss ants and host a question-and-answer session, followed by a 15-minute talk by doctoral student Zach Griebenow about his research on ant evolution. 
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html  

Saturday, Feb. 13, Noon to 2 p.m. 
Live Demonstration: Museum Bird Preparation by Irene Engilis collections manager of the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and a team of students and staff will show how to prepare a dead bird as a scientifically valuable museum specimen. They will answer questions about the process and how they study birds both in the museum and in the wild. 
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html 

Saturday, Feb. 13, 1 to 2 p.m.
Live Talk: Raptor Diversity
Julie Cotton, education director of the California Raptor Center, will answer questions and discuss birds of prey, wildlife rehabilitation and the diversity of raptors. 
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html 

Saturday, Feb. 13, 2 to 4 p.m. 
Live Talks: Anthropology and Ask an Anthropologist 

• Faculty and staff from the Department of Anthropology will present a series of talks. Questions are encouraged throughout the event, and there will also be a special time at the end to "Ask An Anthropologist."
• 2 to 2:15: "Animal Ecology in Precontact California"--Jelmer Eerkens 
  
• 2:15 to 2:30: "Gorillas, Poop, and Nematodes--Neetha Iyer 
  
• 2:30 to 2:45: "Reconstructing Human Evolution: A 3-D Jigsaw Puzzle--Mayowa Adegboyega, 
  
• 2:45 to 3 p.m: "Paleolithic Stone Tool Technology at Nihewan Basin, P.R. China"--Corey Johnson 
  
• 3 to 3:15 p.m. "Zoonotic Disease and Andean Camelid Domestication"--Kathy Morucci  https://www.youtube.com/watch/Q4076iRb9tk
• 3:15 to 3:30: Netting Dovekies in NW Greenland--Erika Ebel 
  
• 3:30 to 3:45, "Spirits of the Animals: Precontact and Contemporary Inuit Art"-- Christyann Darwent
  
• 3:45-4:00 p.m. Ask an Anthropologist 
  Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html  

Monday, Feb. 15, noon to 1 p.m.
Live Talk: All About Heliconius Butterflies (Repeat by popular demand)
UC Davis postdoctoral fellow Kathy Darragh will deliver her second live talk on Heliconius butterflies, answering questions about these tropical butterflies. She earlier presented a talk on Feb. 7. Click here for the presentation in Spanish. She holds a bachelor's degree in zoology and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge (England). During her Ph.D. she studied in the lab of Chris Jiggins, investigating the pheromones of Heliconius butterflies, focusing on chemical ecology, behavior and genetics.
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html  

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1 to 2 p.m.
Live Talk: 'Murder Hornets' with Lynn Kimsey 
Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, will discuss Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia), recently discovered in Canada and Washington State. The news media has nicknamed them "murder hornets."  Says Kimsey: "l will focus on the biology of common pest paper wasps, like western yellowjacket, European paper wasp and the bald-faced hornet and of course, true hornets and whether they're a threat to California."
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html  

Saturday, Feb. 20, 11 a.m. to noon
Live Talk, Questions and Answers: All About Ants, Part II 
Entomology professor Phil Ward will host a fun and lively question-and-answer session, "All About Ants," based on his many years collecting and studying ants from around the world. 
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 12:15 to 12:45
Live Talk: All About Bees and Gardens  
This will be a live question-and-answer session with Christine Casey, manager of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. She will discuss what's blooming in the Davis garden and what bees are active.  
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 1 to 2 p.m. (postponed)
Live Talk: Botanical Conservatory  in Spanish
Ernesto Sandoval, collections manager will spotlight the Botanical Conservatory. He earlier presented a program in English.
Access this link to obtain the Zoom link, http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/live-programs.html

About UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month
The 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month program is all virtual this year via live talks and demonstrations, and pre-recorded presentations. It's being celebrated throughout the month of February. The science-based event traditionally occurs on only one day--the Saturday of Presidents' Weekend, when families and friends gather on campus to learn first-hand about the UC Davis museums and collections. The 2020 event drew more than 4000 to the campus.

This year's biodiversity event is featuring 12 museums or collections:

• Anthropology Museum
• Arboretum and Public Garden
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
• Nematode Collection
• Marine Invertebrate Collection 
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

For more information and the schedule, access these two formats on the UC Davis Biodiversity program website: (1) live talks and demonstrations and (2) pre-recorded talks and activities. Information on the biodiversity museum events also appear on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, @BioDivDay. 

To help support the Biodiversity Museum event, contributions are being accepted through a month-long crowdfunding campaign program at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310. 

A honey bee heading toward Spanish lavender. The California Honey Festival will be abuzz all day Saturday in downtown Woodland. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The third annual California Honey Festival, sponsored by the City of Woodland and the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 4 in downtown Woodland. It's free and family friendly.

Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center, says the event will include a cooking stage, a UC Davis educational stage, a kids' zone, a refreshment zone (beer and wine) and live entertainment.

Among the featured attractions will be a screened bee tent, where festival-goers can see beekeeper Bernardo Niño, staff research associate III in the Elina Niño lab in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology,  open the hive and point out the queen, worker bees and drones. Bernardo is the educational supervisor of the California Master Beekeeper Program, directed by Extension apiculturist Elina Niño and operated by the Niño lab.

"Bernardo will be taking the girls through their paces three times during the day," Harris quipping, referring to the worker bees. This will be at 11 a.m., 1:15 and 3:30 p.m.

Kitty Bolte from the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, the first speaker on the UC Davis Educational Stage at 10:15,   will welcome Woodand as a "Bee City." Plans also call for UC Davis to be named "Bee University" on Saturday, Harris said. "Rachel Davis, director of the Gateway Gardens, Arboretum has been spearheading this designation."

Pollination ecologist and professor Neal Williams of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will speak on "The Huge Impact of Native Bees"  at 12:30 p.m. on the UC Davis Educational Stage.

The UC Davis Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven will feature a pollinator garden installation highlighting what and how to plant for pollinators, along with displays about common bees found in gardens, said Christine Casey, academic program management officer and manager of the half-acre garden, located on Bee Biology Road. She also will be speaking on bee gardening at 2:45 p.m. on the UC Davis Educational Stage.

The UC Davis area, located in the Woodland Opera House Plaza, in the middle of the festival activities, will be abuzz with new additions, Harris said. Newcomers to the festival include the World Food Center Plant Breeders, UC Davis entomology students. (See schedule.)

California Master Beekeepers will be teaching on the educational platforms at the festival. The Pollinator Posse of the Bay Area, headed by Tora Rocha and Terry Smith, will be on hand to explain the importance of pollinators and what everyone can do to help them.

Live entertainment will include Jayson Angove, Jessica Malone, Big Sticky Mess, Bocado Rio, Case Lipka, David Jacobin, Katgruvs, accordionist Jared Johnson, The City of Trees Brass Band and Double X Brass Band. Other live entertainment includes Space Walker and the Hand Stand Nation.

The festival, launched in 2017, aims to cultivate an interest in beekeeping, and to educate the public in support of bees and their keepers, according to Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. Last year's festival drew 30,000 people and some 16 California honey companies.

The California Honey Festival's mission: to promote honey, honey bees and their products, and beekeeping. Through lectures and demonstrations, the crowd can learn about bees and how to keep them healthy.  Issues facing the bees include pests, pesticides, diseases, malnutrition, and climate changes.

The list of 13 museums or collections.

No? Ever watched scientists prepare a bobcat specimen for display? Or taken a selfie with a red-tailed hawk? Or petted a stick insect or a pine cone? How about kombucha tea--ever tasted it?

You can do that and more at the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16. The free, family friendly event will feature 13 museums or collections. All are within walking distance except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road. The hours vary from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from noon to 4 p.m.

The science-based event, exploring the diversity of life, drew more than 4000 visitors to the campus last year, according to Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

New this year is the Marine Invertebrate Collection in the Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive. “Visitors can expect to see specimens collected from Oahu and Baja California, and live corals,” said spokesperson Ivani Li. “There will be a touch tank. At some point there will be a brief presentation about squids where we will be showing off our Humboldt Squid or jumbo squid.”

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, always held the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend, is billed as a “free, educational event for the community where visitors get to meet and talk with UC Davis scientists from undergraduate students to staff to emeritus professors and see amazing objects and organisms from the world around us.” Parking is also free. Maps are available on the Biodiversity Museum Day website at http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/.

These seven collections will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:

• Arboretum and Public Garden, Good Life Garden, next to the Robert Mondavi Institute, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus

 The following will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:

• Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
• Botanical Conservatory, Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive
• Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
• Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive

All participating museums and collections have active education and outreach programs, Yang said, but the collections are not always accessible to the public.   Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the collections, and also online at http://biodiversitymuseumday.edu, and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, @BioDivDay.

Capsule information on each:

Arboretum and Public Garden 
The Arboretum and Public Garden will present “investigation stations” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Good Life Garden, next to the Robert Mondavi Institute, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus. Visitors will learn about the importance of bees, hummingbirds and moths as pollinators. They can play fun games, and color and craft their own pollinator pets.

Bohart Museum of Entomology 
The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, will be open from 9 a.m. to noon, The Bohart is the home of a world-class collection of nearly 8 million insect specimens. Insect scientists will meet with the public to help them explore insects and spiders (arachnids). Highlights will include the 500,000-specimen butterfly/moth collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith. The Bohart maintains a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas.

California Raptor Center
The California Raptor Center, located at 1340 Equine Lane, Davis, just off Old Davis Road, will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors will see a living collection of non-releasable raptors, including hawks, owls and a golden eagle. The center's educational ambassador birds will be out "on the fist", so visitors can get a close look and talk to the volunteers about the birds of prey that live in this area.

Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
The Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, located in Room 1394 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane (off LaRue Road) will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. “We're planning an action packed morning with displays highlighting carnivores, bats, reptiles and fish,” said director Andrew Engilis Jr. “There will be specimen preparation demos (bobcat and raptors) as well as a kid crafts table.”

Paleontology Collection 
The Paleontology Collection, located in the Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors can view fossil specimens dating from as old as 550 million years ago to more recent animal skeletons. Paleontology graduate students in invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology will answer questions and provide interesting factoids. 

Phaff Yeast Culture Collection and Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection
These collections will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Robert Mondavi Institute,392 Old Davis Road, on campus. Visitors can learn about the importance of microbes in research, biotechnology, and food and beverages, and about the proud history of two of the world's prominent microbe collections.

Visitors can

• Tour the UC Davis teaching winery and brewery
• See and smell dozens of yeast species
• Use microscopes to look at yeast cultures
• Learn how yeasts and bacteria are important for making fermented foods and beverages
• Taste vegemite, marmite, and kombucha tea
• Hear how to make clothes from yeast and bacteria
• Hear about cutting edge research using these microbe collections and
• Listen to yeast jokes

Anthropology Museum
The Department of Anthropology Museum, located in 328 Young Hall, will be open from noon to 4 p.m. The Anthropology Museum curates collections of archaeological, ethnographic, biological and archival materials. Visitors will:

• See how different peoples around the world incorporate biodiversity into personal adornment
• Learn about how the native peoples of the Central Valley made use of the area's biodiversity 
• Find out what our hominin ancestors looked like
• Explore the anatomical diversity of our primate relatives
• Learn to throw a spear with an atlatl or use a Peruvian sling shot to hit your target
• Learn how to make stone tools by flintknapping 
• Explore how archaeologists identify the various animals people used for food, tools, and clothing

The Botanical Conservatory 
The greenhouses in the Botanical Conservatory on Kleiber Hall Drive will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Visitors can expect to see carnivorous plants; a chocolate tree loaded with fruit; succulents and other desert plants including the Madagascan spine forest plants that lemurs climb on; the giant leaves of the Titan arum plant, and Mimosa pudica aka sensitive plant whose leaves fold up when touched, said collections manager Ernesto Sandoval. “And, weather permitting, we'll encourage visitors to stroll the paths of the Biological Orchard and Gardens--an outdoor extension of Botanical Conservatory's role in undergraduate education at UC Davis.”

Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium 
The Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium, located in Room 1026 of the Sciences Laboratory Building, central campus (off Kleiber Hall Drive), will be open from noon to 4 p.m.. Curator Ellen Dean said visitors can tour the collection area, see plant pressing and mounting demonstrations, “pet our plant zoo” (a table showcasing the diversity of plants, including mosses, pine cones, ferns and flowering plants); look and plants under a microscope, and view oak exhibit. The children's activity? Making herbarium specimens.

Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee demonstration garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, Bee Biology Road, will be open from noon to 4 p.m. "At the Honey Bee Haven, visitors can learn about bees and see the plants they use," said manager Christine Casey. "We'll have tips for identifying bees in gardens, and our catch and release bee vacuums will be available so folks can safely catch and observe bees up close. We'll also be doing an almond tasting event to coincide with the start of California's most economically important crop pollination season." A six-foot long sculpture of a worker bee by artist Donna Billick of Davis anchors the haven, which was planted in the fall of 2009.

Nematode Collection 
The nematode collection will open from noon to 4 p.m. in the Science Laboratory Building, (off Kleiber Hall Drive. It will feature both live and slide-mounted nematodes, as well as jars of larger parasites. Nematodes, also called worms, are described as “elongated cylindrical worms parasitic in animals or plants or free-living in soil or water. They exist in almost every known environment.”

Marine Invertebrate Collection
The Marine Invertebrate Collection will open from noon to 4 p.m. in the Science Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive. Visitors can view specimens collected from Oahu and Baja California, and live corals. There also will be a touch tank and Humboldt squid presentation.